One would hope that our elected officials that have sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution of the State of Illinois and the specific rights codified and guaranteed to the People of Illinois would certainly do so. It is time to wonder about the green-eyed extremists that seek to trample our rights that have been guaranteed. Our Constitution reads, from ARTICLE I, BILL OF RIGHTS:

It is deeply disturbing that an attempt to steal the guaranteed "blessings of Liberty" from the people of Illinois is underway. Subversion of the constitution is both damnable and tantamount to sedition.

For "police power" to have no limits would only be possible in a Police State. Perhaps some of our elected officials now feel they are the anointed dispensers of police power to their citizens? Of course it is illegal to commit crime; we have thousands of laws on the books making criminal activity illegal.

Gun save lives; you don't hear much about the many millions of guns owned legally in Illinois, for they do nothing illegal. General gun availability does not increase crime; studies by Dr. Gary Kleck and many others have shown that.

As cited by Dr. Martin Fackler, battlefield surgeon and world renowned ballistics expert:

"Consider the steadily decreasing rate of violent crime over the past eight years. An article in USA Today (K Johnson, 9 Oct 00, 3A) reported 'Gun injuries in crimes fall 40% in 5 years.' This stark decline has occurred concomitantly with a constant rise in the number of firearms in the hands of the American public."

"This strongly supports the 'more guns less crime' relationship verified by Kleck, Lott, history, and common sense. This steady decrease has brought the current percentage of gun violence in the USA to its lowest rate in the past three to four decades."

No politician has been able to tell me if a so-called "assault" or "large caliber" weapon has ever been used to commit a crime in the State of Illinois. When the federal so-called assault rifle ban expired, crime didn't rise . . . those inclined to commit crimes have always done so regardless of law, for it is law that is ignored in the first place.

Illinois servicemen defend our country around the world with fully automatic service rifles, the M16. The civilian version is no fully automatic weapon at all, it is merely autoloading. Yet, the proud young man that defends America come back home to Illinois and wants to use a civilian version of the firearm he has defended his country with to target shoot, keep the coyotes off his sheep, and defend his wife and property. Not in Illinois, if the current bills in the Senate go through.

We have SB16 - the ban on so-called Assault Weapons (bill applies only to law-abiding citizens, criminals won't have their guns banned or confiscated), SB102 - a scheme to ration gun purchases to one per month for law abiding citizens (of course, there is no provision for rationing guns for criminals), SB1399 - a state dealer-licensing scheme that would make it impossible for your legal, local gun shop to stay in business, SB1471 - a plan to ban .50 caliber firearms even though there is no evidence to suggest that these guns have ever been used in crime. Today, "they" apparently would attempt to ban all ammunition in Illinois by a bill that requires ammunition be serial numbered.

Unconstitutional and therefore illegal, unpatriotic, and void supporting evidence to show any value is apparently not enough for our elected officials to seek to trample the rights of the Illinois citizen and ignore the Constitution of the State of Illinois. None of these affects those officials with well-armed body guards such as Mayor Richard Daley, paid for by tax dollars of course. Apparently little need for personal rights when tax-dollars buy you not just guns, but well-paid staff to use them for your benefit. Most residents of Illinois do not have that luxury.

It is an attack on our state constitutional rights, an attack on women who are the equal of any man when using a firearm to protect themselves, an attack on our returning servicemen from Iraq, and it is an attack on you and me.

My congresswoman, Senator Linda Holmes is nowhere to be found, unable to return my phone calls. As a life-long resident of the State of Illinois, I am for the first time in my life embarrassed to state as much. The theory that our elected officials serve the residents of Illinois, and protect our Constitution is one that recent actions disprove. The arrogance of any elected official seeking to infringe, steal, and otherwise nullify our Constitution rights is worthy of great disdain.

Does Our Constitution have meaning and worth? Has Illinois become a Police State? Voters should take great notice of all this. Words do mean things; how can a reasonable person possibly not understand infringement?